It's a shame you don't own the forum, then you could impose your will on anyone you like, till then tough luck. Where do you get off calling for a lock. Who are you,the thread judge? Like I said before, ignore it. But I don't think you can.

LOL, proof the niche is not doing so well is the mergers and companies disappearing. Case in point Ageod, Matrix/Slitherine Merger and so on. Strong companies do not merge, because they do not need to.

LOL, proof the niche is not doing so well is the mergers and companies disappearing. Case in point Ageod, Matrix/Slitherine Merger and so on. Strong companies do not merge, because they do not need to.

You nailed it beautifully here. If Slitherine wasn't hurting financially inside it wouldn't propose mergers to every possible publisher that poses a threat to their business. If they were doing well they'd let them die out and acquire them wholesale.

The merging with other companies is an attempt to overshadow their lack of financial success, by creating an illusion that their "expanding" in all sectors. In actuality, if you think about Iain's responses just for a minute of the immense success he claims they're having (you have to read between the lines of his jibberishness) you'll realize why you're seeing the things you're seeing. He of course has included the AGEOD sales that he's acquired within his numbers of sales. Don't be so naive. Good one Iain!

He's a business man and he's a hell of a bullshitter to boot.

Look at the specifics. Would a company that is expanding as Iain suggest be putting off forum improvements for their sites and be hosting a publication that is failing (Wargamer)? They don't have the financial means to update their old products, their old forum software or to even examine their marketing analytics. The answer to why they fall short in so many sectors of the business that they're in is because they lack the financial means to do so.

Merging with competitors may buy some time for a company that is lacking essential profits, but it wont make up for an uneducated and incompetent Marketing Manger in the long run.

Locking it, as your post shows, is acknowledgement that it has run its course.

By closing a thread to prevent further conversation of a particular topic because a wargaming publisher doesn't like what people are saying, displays a form of censorship. Deleting a thread is also a form of censorship. But preventing future discusses of a particular topic is most certainly censorship.

Destroying future conversation of a particular subject is just as bad if not worse than destroying already posted conversation of a particular subject.

...and yet, with regret, thread locked. This discussion truly has run its course and it keeps circling back to the beginning, with the same posters saying the same things. I don't see the point in recycling discussion points again and again or in allowing this negative speculation to continue. That kind of posting, as exemplified by Grogmaster, does not have anything to do with a constructive discussion about pricing. As far as I can tell, it is intentionally destructive. Whatever your grudge against us is, please keep it to yourself.

Grogmaster, I think it's time you re-read the forum rules. Personal insults against community members and trolling are both against those rules. You've been warned and will get a vacation from the forum to reconsider those rules if you cross the line again.